


White Noise

by Paintdripps



Category: Free!
Genre: M/M, SouMako - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-22
Updated: 2014-12-26
Packaged: 2018-02-22 03:54:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2493458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Paintdripps/pseuds/Paintdripps
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Snapshots from the daily life of Makoto, a mind-reading college student. </p><p>Somehow, knowing what everyone else is thinking doesn't seem to make life any easier. </p><p>(That mindreader AU from Tumblr.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 1

_"When is he going to text me back?"_

_"Ugh, would this guy quit shaking his leg already?"_

_"Okay. An hour and a half of this class and I'm done. I can do this."_

Makoto squeezed his eyes shut against the deafening onslaught of thoughts from his classmates.

He had a terrible headache. You would've thought that he'd be used to it by now---he'd been able to pick up on other people's thoughts since childhood---but sadly, that wasn't the case.

In fact, it seemed that the older he got, the more the headaches would worsen. Makoto suspected it had something to do with the amount of people he was in contact with; while the thoughts of his twenty-person fifth grade class were noisy enough, this college lecture hall with hundreds of students was infinitely worse. 

"I can do this," Makoto whispered to himself, echoing the thoughts of one particularly exhausted-looking girl. 

Class still had yet to begin. Makoto sighed and covered his face with his hands. 

_"Damn, maybe I should call Hikari up again later. She was really good last night."_

Makoto wished he hadn't heard that. That was one of the cons of his ability. He wound up hearing a lot of things that he didn't want to hear. 

He frowned in the general direction of where he'd heard that ever so sophisticated musing. He couldn't tell exactly who it came from, not in a room this crowded. But maybe that was a good thing. 

And then he heard it. 

Through the chaotic ruckus of random thoughts, Makoto heard perhaps the most random one of all: counting. 

_"One hundred forty-two, one hundred forty-three, one hundred forty-four, one hundred forty-five..."_

Makoto blinked. What on earth?

It took him a while to pinpoint the source, but he finally did. A few seats away from him was the counter.

The guy had dark hair and blue-green eyes. He was staring unwaveringly at the air right in front of him, an expression of uttermost seriousness on his face.

Had Makoto not known exactly what was going through his head ( _"...one hundred sixty-seven, one hundred sixty-eight..."_ ), he would've figured the guy had something important on his mind. 

As it was, Makoto did not understand what the heck this guy was doing at all. 

Makoto watched him curiously. The guy's brow was furrowed in concentration. Did it really take him that much effort to count?

Then he noticed that his face was turning red. 

His counting, too, was faltering:  _"One hundred ninety-six, one hundred ninety... dammit... ninety-seven... one hundred... ninety... NO YOU DON'T. Ah... ninety-eight? One hundred ninety-eight, shit, I said that already and now I'm behind and FUCK--"_

With a gasping, shuddering breath, the guy sucked in air like he'd been starved of it. 

Oh.

So he'd been holding his breath. 

Suddenly, Makoto had to know this guy's name. 

There was an empty seat right next to Holding-Breath-Man, so Makoto decided to head on over. The people on either side of his current seat probably wouldn't care much if he left, anyway (the girl on his right was daydreaming about some basketball manga, and the guy on his left was imagining some things better left unspoken).

He made his way over to the dark-haired counting guy. 

"This seat isn't taken, is it?" Makoto asked, just to make sure. 

The guy shrugged. He had broad shoulders, Makoto noticed. "Don't think so."

"Do you mind if I sit here?"

"Sure."

Makoto wasn't certain whether he meant "Sure" as in "Sure, go ahead and sit," or "Sure I mind. Please go away."

He decided he would just sit down anyway. He set his spiral notebook in front of him, unslung his backpack from his shoulder, and plopped down in the chair. 

"I'm Tachibana. Tachibana Makoto," he said, nodding his head in greeting. "Thanks for letting me sit here."

Blue-green eyes looked at him curiously. Makoto felt a bit self-conscious; the guy gave him a brief once-over before saying, "Yamazaki Sousuke. Nice to meet you."

_"Wow, he's kind of cute."_

Makoto could feel his cheeks heat up slightly upon hearing this. "Cute" was not an adjective that had been applied to him in a long time. Makoto was pretty sure that once you were past the age of thirteen, you no longer qualified as such. And he was eighteen. 

He tried to busy himself by rummaging around in his backpack for a pencil, but that didn't stop the fluttery embarrassed sensation from swimming around in his stomach. He could feel Sousuke's eyes on him. 

One thing was for sure, though: Makoto's awkwardness was a great distraction from his headache. 


	2. 2

Haru snickered. 

Makoto ceased his pacing in order to glare at his old friend (and now, roommate) properly. 

"Haru! This is serious!"

Haru stared right back at him. "Makoto, it's not that big a deal."

"But it's so  _awkward!_ " he practically wailed. 

Haru shrugged. "So move seats."

"But--"

"So the guy likes you. What's the big deal? If it bothers you that much, just move seats."

Leave it to Haru to strip an issue like this down to the bone.

Makoto tried to think of something to say, then stopped. 

What he wanted to say was "But he seems nicer than the other people in the class."

Instead, he pouted and said, "I doubt anyone would change seats with me. Isn't that like some sort of unspoken law? Seats become permanent after the first day of class?"

Haru rolled his eyes.  

"So don't change seats, then."

"But I don't know what to do! It's so awkward!" Makoto flailed his arms helplessly. 

"Well, he doesn't know that you know. So just act normal."

"Normal," Makoto repeated. "You do realize that you're talking to  _me,_ right?"

Haru had known about Makoto's little gift ever since it had first started to crop up. He'd been the first person to know, actually, as he'd also been the first person whose thoughts Makoto had heard. 

"Maybe if you wear ear plugs," Haru mused. 

Makoto shook his head. He'd tried that before, to no avail. 

"Or just, I don't know, don't listen to him. Focus on someone else."

That would be difficult, to deliberately block someone out, but Makoto decided he could at least try. 

"Well, I guess, but--"

At that moment, there was a sharp knocking sound as someone rapped on the door. 

"Haru! Open up!"

Makoto didn't quite recognize this voice. He tilted his head, eyes questioning his friend. 

Haru merely shrugged. 

"Oi! Nanase! Get your ass out here this instant!" Whoever it was seemed to be extremely angry. The door was rattling in its frame with the force of the guy's knocking. 

Makoto could hear their impromptu visitor's thoughts, a dark grumbling like thunder:  _"Dammit Nanase---Coach'll skin me alive if I don't manage to drag you to practice."_

"Have you been skipping practice?" Makoto inquired. 

All he got in response was a shrug, but Makoto heard his confession anyway. Haru was guilty as charged. 

"Nanase!" There was a particularly loud slamming sound. Makoto wondered if the guy had given up on knocking and was now trying to ram the door open. 

"Please stop that," Makoto called, worrying for the door's welfare. 

"Ha! I knew you were in there! Open up the damn door already, would you?"

Makoto shared a glance with Haru. Who shrugged. Yet again. 

With a sigh, Makoto made his way over to the door and opened it a crack. "What--"

That was all he got out. Before he could finish asking exactly what on earth this guy thought he was doing, he was tackled to the floor, the door pushed aside somehow. The only thing he had time to register was a flash of red hair. 

All the wind was knocked out of his lungs as he hit the (thankfully) carpeted floor. There was a body on top of him. Makoto tried to scream but couldn't---all that came out was a breathless squeak. 

He tried desperately to shove whoever it was off of him, to no avail. His assailant quickly took advantage of their position and straddled Makoto's stomach, then pinned Makoto's wrists to the ground. 

There was silence for a moment. Makoto stared up at the attacker, bewildered. 

The guy had long-ish red hair, tied back in a ponytail. And he was heavy. Makoto hoped that his organs weren't being crushed.

The guy stared down at Makoto, looking surprised. 

Then he said, "You're not Haru," just as Haru blurted, "What are you doing, Rin?"

The Rin guy quickly got off of Makoto, cheeks flushed a shade of red almost as bright as his hair. "Uh. Sorry."

Makoto sat up, wincing. "Who  _are_ you, even?"

"That's classified."

"He's from the swim team," Haru interjected flatly. 

Makoto sighed. "Is that so."

Rin coughed. "I, uh... Coach said..."

"I'm pretty sure the word you're looking for is 'sorry,' Rin."

What?

Makoto recognized that deep timbre. 

Sure enough, Yamazaki Sousuke from his biology class was standing in the doorway, a disapproving scowl fixed on his face.

"I told you tackling him would be a bad idea. Look, you didn't even peg the right person."

"Shut up, you--"

Makoto scrambled to his feet, flustered without knowing why. He quickly dusted himself off. 

"You're both idiots," Haru announced. "Now, please leave."

Blue-green eyes flitted over to land on Makoto, who did his best to appear composed.

_"Oh, man. It's the guy from Bio. Is he okay? Dammit, Rin's such an impulsive idiot."_

"Haru, Coach is pissed that you've missed so many practices," Rin tried to explain.

Sousuke cut him off. "You forgot to apologize to Makoto."

"Who?"

Sousuke pointed at him. Makoto blushed. "Ah, no, he doesn't have to--"

Haru crossed his arms. "Apologize to my roommate or I'm not going."

Rin scowled. "I was going to. Sheesh. Sorry, um... Makoto." Rin was wondering how Sousuke even knew him. 

"Don't worry about it," Makoto said, wishing that the two other guys hadn't made a big deal out of it.

_"He's blushing. God, does he know how cute that is?"_

Makoto resisted the urge to hide his face. And cover his ears in the vain hope that it would block out Sousuke's random thoughts.

Um. He would try to listen especially hard to Haru instead. Maybe that would work. 

 _"Stupid Rin,"_ he heard Haru sigh exasperatedly. 

"I haven't missed that many practices," Haru objected.

"You missed two so far this week."

"So?" 

"We've only had three practices so far in total!" Rin threw his hands up in the air, clearly frustrated. "Come on, we're gonna be late."

 _"I didn't know Nanase and Makoto were roommates,"_ Sousuke mused.  _"Weird. They're only a few rooms away."_

"Haru, you should probably go to at least one workout," Makoto said. 

Haru shot him a betrayed look. "But I only swim free."

"What the hell does that even mean?" Rin demanded. "You were always saying that during the summer clinic."

"It means that I only swim free," Haru said. His nose wrinkled in distaste. "If I go to practice, Coach will try and make me do other strokes."

"Well, yeah. So you can be balanced," Rin said. 

Sousuke rolled his eyes. "Let's just go, okay? Coach said we'd have 1000 fly if we showed up late."

"I don't want to go."

"But Haru, don't you want to get in the pool?" Makoto asked, pulling out his trump card. 

Haru hesitated, and Makoto knew that his resolve had broken. Normally, Makoto wasn't one to try and mmake his friend do something he didn't want to do, but in this case he figured it was okay. Haru was here on a swim scholarship, after all. 

"Fine," the blue-eyed boy relented. "Let's go." He started to walk out the door. 

Rin eyed Makoto curiously for a moment ( _"How did he manage to convince him? Must be some sort of magic or something."_ ) before he followed Haru. 

Sousuke lingered briefly. 

"Sorry about Rin, he's a moron at times," he muttered. Then, "See you in class tomorrow afternoon?"

"Yeah."

Well. 

Makoto supposed he wouldn't be doing any seat-swapping, then. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rin can be kind of chaotic at times. Sousuke is awkward. Rin is awkward. Makoto is awkward. Everyone is awkward. 
> 
> Thank you to everyone who left kudos, bookmarked this, or commented! I hope this lives up to your expectations :)


	3. 3

Biology class again.

Makoto had been sorely tempted to just not go. He'd been up late the night before working on an English assignment--essay writing was difficult, and he had no one to help him with grammar, since English wasn't one of Haru's best subjects either. 

Well. It couldn't be helped. He was here now, so he'd just have to cope with the pounding headache for the next... ninety minutes.

Darn it. 

Makoto sighed and let his head fall onto the table with a dull thunk. He was definitely not in the mood to deal with the collective thoughts of however many hundreds of other students in the lecture hall. Everything had just coalesced into an unintelligible roar. Makoto couldn't even really hear himself think. 

Sousuke slid into his seat beside him. "Hey."

Makoto meant to say hello, but what came out instead was something along the lines of "Urgggggh."

"You don't look well," Sousuke noticed. "Rough night?"

Makoto forced himself to lift his head up. "Headache."

"Ah. Do you need some aspirin or something?"

"No, that's okay."

He kind of wanted to throw up. God, he was nauseous. 

"You don't have a concussion or anything, do you?" Sousuke asked suddenly. 

Makoto turned to look at him. Maintaining eye contact was hard when all he really wanted to do was melt into goo. "Don't think so. Why?"

"Did you hit your head when Rin tackled you yesterday?" 

Makoto tried to remember. "I don't think so."

Sousuke cupped his chin in his hand and made Makoto look straight at him. For a moment, Sousuke just stared deeply into his eyes. 

Makoto wondered what on earth he was thinking. There was so much white noise cluttering up his head, and he didn't have the energy to filter out which thoughts were Sousuke's. 

"You don't have a concussion," Sousuke informed him, letting him go. 

"...what?"

"Your pupils are normal, so I'm pretty sure you're okay."

"Oh."

Class was starting. Makoto returned his attention to the presentation currently being projected on the wall. 

Ninety minutes. He could do this.

* * *

"Do you mind if I walk with you?" Sousuke asked as Makoto shoved his notebook rather unceremoniously into his backpack. 

"If you want, I guess," Makoto replied. "Why, are you going straight back to your room?" 

"Yeah. Afternoon practice is in an hour, so it's not like I have a lot of time to waste." Sousuke shifted his weight from one foot to the other. He was standing already and waiting for Makoto to finish packing up. 

Makoto zipped his bag up, wincing at the obnoxiously loud, well, zipping sound it made. "Oh, that's right," he said. "You're on the swim team here with Haru, right?"

"Yeah."

Makoto slung his bag over his shoulder and started to walk. Sousuke followed obligingly. 

"I could carry your stuff for you," the dark-haired boy offered. 

"That's okay," Makoto said. The throbbing in his head was lessening a little, thankfully. 

"You sure?"

"Yeah, it's fine. I'm not a total invalid."

Sousuke scoffed. "The way you were flopping around on the desk begs to differ."

Makoto didn't really know whether or not he'd taken useful notes on the lecture. He could remember hazily scribbling things down, but now that he thought about it, he didn't really remember what the lecture had been about. Something about hydrophobic ends and hydrophilic heads?

"Thanks, but no thanks," Makoto said. 

Sousuke just shrugged in reply. Then he started to quicken his pace. 

For a moment, Makoto wondered if he'd done something to offend Sousuke, but then he realized Sousuke had gone ahead in order to hold the door open for him.

Well. 

"After you." Sousuke gestured flamboyantly and then swept a deep bow. 

"Um... thanks." Makoto walked quickly through the door, feeling a little embarrassed by Sousuke's gentlemanly deed. 

  _"So cute."_

"I'm not cute," Makoto retorted without thinking. Belatedly, he realized that he'd responded to a thought. He desperately hoped Sousuke wouldn't say anything. 

 _"Shit, did I say that out loud?"_ Sousuke thought. Makoto turned to look at him. The guy looked completely cool and collected, but Makoto could hear him panicking inside his head. 

Sousuke had an excellent poker face, he noted. 

"Never said you were," Sousuke blurted. "Um. Those are some cute... leaves... right?"

Makoto was silently thankful that Sousuke thought that he had been the one to slip up, not Makoto.  

 He decided to humor the guy. "I guess. If you like nature a lot. I wouldn't exactly call leaves cute, but they're awfully pretty this time of year."

Indeed, the trees were changing color from the summer green to different shades of yellows and oranges and reds. The fallen ones crunched underfoot. 

"Yeah," Sousuke said. " _God, he must think I'm weird."_ He inhaled deeply. "Man, it's nice to have some fresh air after so long in that room."

Makoto wrinkled his nose at the memory of the stagnant smell in the lecture hall. "Tell me about it."

"Is your headache better?" Sousuke asked, changing the subject rather abruptly.

Makoto blinked. "Uh, yeah."  

"That's good."

They continued on in silence. Makoto absently counted his footsteps as they walked. His boots made a sort of clunking sound with each step he took. 

He made it to about sixty-eight before Sousuke spoke up again.

"So, are you majoring in biology?"

"Um, no. History, actually, but I'm going to do a minor in kinesiology. Once I'm done with all my general ed requirements, of course. Yourself?"

"Biochemistry."

"Ouch." Makoto winced. "I heard that one's a killer."

"Not really, so far. But we've only just started, and it's freshman year." Sousuke grimaced. "I'm sure I have a lot to look forward to."

"And you're doing swim team, too?" Makoto couldn't help the slight tone of disbelief that crept into his voice. How on earth was Sousuke going to manage his workload along with a sport?

Sousuke chuckled. "Like I said, a lot to look forward to."

"Ah." They were approaching the residence hall, in all of its brick-walled glory.

"Well," Makoto said. "Thanks for walking with me."

"No problem. It was nice talking with you." Sousuke flashed him a grin. "See you tomorrow?"

"We don't have bio tomorrow."

"Oh. Right. Well. I'll... catch you around sometime, then."

Makoto didn't have to peruse his mind to tell that Sousuke was disappointed.

"Yeah," he agreed, not knowing what else to say.

 _"Ask to swap numbers or something. Say it's for the homework. Come on, suck it up,"_ he could hear Sousuke telling himself. 

"Do you... mind if we trade numbers? I'm not entirely sure how the professor wants us to format the prelab, and I might need to ask someone to double-check."

"Sure." Eh, why not?

Makoto tried not to smile at the way Sousuke was celebrating inside his head. 

It was kind of charming, really, the way Sousuke was so excitable on the inside yet so stoic on the outside. Like he was a dog wearing a cat's mask. 

"See you soon," Makoto said, once he'd entered Sousuke's digits in his cell phone. 

"Yeah. Okay." 

Maybe being around Sousuke wasn't such an awkward thing after all. Makoto was finding that he didn't really mind overhearing the occasional  _"Wow, he's cute,"_ comments. 

And as he opened his notebook once he'd settled back in his room, he was extremely thankful that he had Sousuke's number.

He did not understand the lousy notes he'd scribbled down at all. 


	4. 4

There was something reassuring about the smell of chlorine, Makoto mused.

He was sitting on the bleachers by the poolside. He’d missed it---the constant gurgle of the water as it splashed into the gutter, the strong scent of chlorine hanging in the air. He would’ve loved to jump in the water and feel it slide over his skin, but that wasn’t an option, seeing how the swim team was currently occupying the pool lanes.

He still wasn’t sure why he’d decided to tag along and watch Haru’s swim practice, but he was glad that he had. It was peaceful here. Makoto closed his eyes, relishing the quiet. He could hear bits and pieces of the swimmers’ thoughts ( _“Wait, was that the sixth 200 or the seventh?”_ ), but most of the noise was washed away by the sound of splashing water.

It had only been a few days since he’d started with college, and already he’d started to forget what the word “peace” meant. But this here—this was peace, sitting on the aluminum bleachers with the sound of water in his ears and the scent of bleach in his nose.

He’d long since finished his literature homework—literature was easy, and he’d been able to concentrate for once, here—and his next English assignment wasn’t due for a week, so he figured he could waste the remainder of the time just staring off into space and relaxing.

Makoto watched the swimmers and smiled. He was glad that Haru had voluntarily gone to practice today. He could spot his friend even from this distance; Haru’s slimmer build and graceful stroke made him stand out from the other swimmers.

He never would get tired of watching Haru swim, he decided. The other swimmers had strong, elegant strokes too, but they weren’t married to the water the way Haru was. It was like Haru didn’t really do much work at all, and the water just loved him so much that it carried him wherever he wanted to go.

A ridiculous notion, but Makoto smiled at the thought of it.

The swimmers gathered at the wall, having completed their set. The coach squatted on the edge of the pool, talking to them for a few moments.

Then Makoto noticed one of the swimmers. He wasn’t sure how he recognized him, since his hair was tucked in a cap and his eyes were covered with shaded goggles, but he did.

It was Sousuke. He could tell by the built and the set of his jaw, somehow. Makoto watched, transfixed, as Sousuke ducked down and pushed off the wall. He had a strong dolphin kick. And a good streamline. Sousuke’s push off got him about 20 meters off the wall before he commenced his breakout and started swimming butterfly.

He had a strong butterfly stroke, one that made it actually look like he was flying.

If the way Haru swam could be described as though the water was his friend, the way Sousuke swam was more like he was the water's commanding officer. It obeyed him. His hands pushed water out of his way so easily, as though he were moving through the air.

Sousuke made his turn. His streamline was just as strong as it had been at the start.

Makoto didn’t realize his mouth was hanging open until Sousuke completed his 100. As luck would have it, when Sousuke stopped at the wall, he happened to look at the bleachers.

A slight thrill went down his spine. Makoto snapped his mouth shut so fast that he bit his tongue in the process. He cringed, tasting blood. Ouch.

He didn't know whether or not Sousuke had seen him, but either way he felt as though he'd been caught doing something he wasn't supposed to. Which was ridiculous, since there was no rule stopping him from coming to watch the swim team.

Right?

* * *

"Hey, Haru!"

The dark-haired boy stopped rubbing his head with a towel and looked up.

"Makoto?"

"Mm-hmm!"

Haru frowned slightly. "Wait. Were you here the whole time?"

"I... yeah."

"Aren't you busy?"  _  
_

Makoto held up his hands in a placating gesture. "I did my homework while I was here. It's... quieter."

Haru's eyes lit up in understanding, and his concerned expression melted off. "Well, that's good then. I didn't want you wasting your time."

Haru took the towel off his head and set to drying off the rest of his body. "You must be starving," he commented.

"Not really." Although it _was_ later than Makoto usually ate dinner. Typically, Makoto would eat around six or seven. It was about eight in the evening, now.

His stomach rumbled embarrassingly.

Haru raised an eyebrow.  _"You're a terrible liar."_

He shrugged sheepishly. "Sorry, guess I _am_ a little--"

"Hey, Haru, is this your roommate again?"

It was the red-haired guy from yesterday--the one who'd tackled Makoto to the ground. Rin. 

Rin shook his head back and forth the way a dog would, spraying Makoto and Haru with the water from his hair. Makoto flinched as the cool spray of water hit him in the face. Haru just sighed. 

Makoto wiped his face off. "Um, hi."

Rin flashed him a sharp-toothed grin. "So, why are you here? Did you come for the view?" 

Makoto was about to ask,  _"What view?"_ because really, it was an indoor pool facility. Not very scenic, unless you liked concrete floors and beige-painted walls. 

Then he spotted Sousuke, and the words died in his throat. 

Um.

Sousuke wasn't really bothering to towel off, just standing around with some other guys and talking. Damn, he was built--how had Makoto not noticed how ripped his arms were before? Probably because they'd been covered up by the sleeves of his jacket. He swallowed dryly. Sousuke should stop wearing long sleeves to class.  

"Hello? Earth to Haru's roommate?" Rin waved a hand in front of his face. Makoto blinked. 

"Oh. Sorry. I... blanked out there for a second."

Rin snorted. "No kidding." He craned his neck, trying to follow Makoto's line of vision. _"Now, who was he looking at..?"_ Makoto quickly averted his eyes, turning to look at Haru instead.

"Anyway!" he squeaked. "Haru, I was wondering if you could read my English essay and--"

Rin cut him off. He was rubbing his hair with his towel. "Wait, but isn't Haru complete shit at English?" 

 _"Shut up, Rin,"_ Haru thought. He didn't say it out loud though, just glared at the red-haired swimmer menacingly. 

"Because I could help," Rin offered. "I went to school in Australia for a couple years, so I'm pretty fluent." 

"Really? You would?" 

 _"I kind of owe you for tackling you to the ground,"_ Rin thought. Which was nice. Makoto smiled a little at that. But then Rin opened his mouth to tell him out loud, "Yeah, because I'm super cool like that." 

"Oh, thanks. I have it with me right now, if--"

"I just got out of the pool." Rin gestured down at himself. "I don't think you want to hand me any paper, unless you're okay with me getting it wet."

"Right, right."

 "I could swing by later to pick it up, if that's okay?"

"Sure. Thanks. When's good for you?"

Rin thought for a moment. "How about 10? I wanna grab something to eat, first." 

At that moment, Sousuke looked over in their direction. His eyes lit up when they met Makoto's. Sousuke excused himself from his teammates, and started to walk over--

Makoto panicked inside, which was stupid, since there was no reason for him to. There was just this sort of electric energy coursing through him; his heart was pounding wildly, his palms had started to sweat... 

"Think I'm gonna head back to the room," he blurted. "I'll get dinner started, Haru." 

Both Rin and Haru were looking at him curiously--he could hear them wondering what was up with him--but Makoto turned tail and started to quickly walk away. 

It was only once he was safely out of the pool area that he realized it.

He'd left his stuff on the bleachers. 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter: Makoto has to go back to get his stuff, of course. Awkward.  
> Rin comes over to help with his English work (and be a general nuisance). Sousuke comes along with Rin to "help."


	5. 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't apologize enough for going MIA on you guys, but thanks so much for waiting. 
> 
> I'm not entirely satisfied with this chapter, but when I get writer's block if I don't just plow onward I'll never finish, and I am determined to at least finish this fic.
> 
> Onward we go.

"Back so soon?" Rin asked. He tossed his hair and grinned at Makoto. "I knew you couldn't stay away for long," he crooned. 

Makoto could feel _himself_ blushing furiously. Rin's antics were definitely not helping. He tried to ignore the curious glances that Haru and Sousuke were giving him as he shuffled over to the bleachers and grabbed his backpack. 

"Forgot my stuff," he mumbled as he walked back to where the three swimmers were. He tried not to look at Sousuke, who was wondering if he'd done something to warrant Makoto's avoidance of him.   

"See you later," Rin called after him. 

"See you," he called back, and then scurried out as fast as he could.

God, he must've looked like an idiot. 

* * *

 Makoto wished Rin could learn to knock more gently. 

He had been sitting on his bunk--the one farther away from the window, since he liked being near the wall when he slept--and sipping a cup of tea. Haru sat across from him on his own bed, blinking blearily.

"You should sleep earlier or something," Makoto was saying, having noticed that Haru was starting to develop dark circles under his eyes. 

Haru looked petulant, but before he could say anything about it, there was an abrupt flurry of knocking at their door. 

Makoto flinched, splashing hot tea all over himself in the process. 

"Makoto? Open up!" Rin's voice was only slightly muffled by the wood of the door. 

"Ow, ow, ow," he hissed, jumping up off his bed. He dropped the now-empty cup on the floor--thank the heavens for carpeting; luckily, it didn't shatter. The hot liquid had soaked into his shirt and was burning his stomach. 

"Just take it off," Haru told him calmly. "I'll get the door." He got up and made his way over. 

Makoto yanked his t-shirt over his head as quickly as he could and threw it on the ground. Ugh, his stomach was still wet. And now he smelled like chrysanthemum. At least the tea was no longer burning hot. Darn it, he needed a towel--

Well, why not. His shirt was going to need to be washed, anyway. 

He stooped over to pick up his semi-soggy t-shirt, then proceeded to try and wipe himself dry. 

And that's how Rin found him--standing and awkwardly rubbing his stomach with a shirt. 

"Uh, hi," Rin said. "Are you okay?"

"He spilled tea," Haru explained flatly. He was still standing in the doorway, looking a tad irritated. "You startled him with your noisy banging."

Rin snickered. "Noisy banging. Ha."

"Shut up, Rin," another voice chastised. 

Sousuke?

What was he doing here now?

Makoto looked up. Sure enough, his dark-haired classmate was standing just outside the door. Haru was blocking him from entering by standing in the door frame. 

"Oh. Hi, Sousuke."

Rin looked miffed. "You still haven't said hi to me yet!"

"Right. Hi, Rin," he said, shifting his gaze back to the redhead. "Um, I didn't know Sousuke was going to come too."

Rin just shrugged. "He wanted to help. So where's this English paper of yours?"

Haru still hadn't let Sousuke in. 

"Uh, Haru... you can let him in," Makoto said, rolling up his wet shirt. He quickly squatted down to pull a spare shirt out from underneath his bed.

Haru sighed and let Sousuke pass. 

Sousuke frowned at him.  _"What's Nanase's problem?"_

Makoto was wondering that too, actually. 

"Um..." He grabbed his English paper off of his desk. "Right here."

Rin took it from him and made himself comfortable right away, flopping on Makoto's bed like a ragdoll.  

Makoto sat cross-legged on the floor, awaiting his verdict. 

"It's pretty good," Rin said after a while. "But over here--"

Sousuke peered over at the paper. 

"Your handwriting's cute," he mused. 

Rin turned to glare at him before Makoto could squeak out a thank you. "Oi, get out of my space, you big lug. You're not helpful."

Sousuke just grinned. "Mind if I sit here, then?" he asked, pointing at the space on the ground next to Makoto. 

Makoto shrugged. Sousuke plopped himself down casually, his shoulder brushing against Makoto's. 

Makoto could still smell the chlorine lingering on his skin, although it was mixed with the faint scent of oranges and soap. 

_"Oh... Tachibana smells nice."_ Apparently, Sousuke liked the scent of the tea that had been dumped all over him. 

Makoto tried to keep himself from blushing at that, and opted to focus on Rin's constructive criticisms instead. 

Haru hovered awkwardly by the door. 

Right, Haru wasn't exactly fond of being stuck in small spaces with a lot of people, and since Rin was boisterous enough to count as three, Makoto could understand his discomfort. 

"Are you going to wash up?" Makoto asked. "I know you're tired, we could go to sleep early if you want..."

Haru's eyes were grateful. Makoto didn't have to hear his thoughts to know that he was internally thanking Makoto for this excuse to escape his noisy swim teammate. 

"Yeah. I'm headed for the bathroom," he said, coming back to where the other three sat in order to snatch his toiletries out from underneath his bed. Then he was out the door, leaving Makoto alone with Rin and Sousuke. 

Rin nudged Makoto with his foot to reclaim his attention. "Oi, Makoto. This transition right here is awkward. See, you want to stick the comma here instead of here..."

* * *

Half an hour later, Makoto hadn't really learned much in the way of English grammar, but he  _had_ gotten to hear Rin's Australian accent, and that was pretty neat. The corrections to Makoto's paper hadn't really been finished, since the three had gotten sidetracked and Makoto and Sousuke were trying to mimic Rin's accent. 

Which was what Haru returned to find: Rin cringing as Sousuke tried his best to add the slight twang to his English speech. 

Haru raised an eyebrow at Makoto, but all he could do was offer a helpless shrug in response as laughter bubbled up to his lips.

"Right, right, sorry," Makoto mouthed as Haru shifted his weight uneasily from foot to foot. 

"Sorry, but I'm beat," Makoto announced. "I think we're done for tonight."

Rin glanced at his watch. "But it's only--"

"I like to sleep early," Makoto explained. 

Sousuke stood up a little shakily. Makoto could hear him lamenting the fact that his left leg had fallen asleep from sitting. "Come on, Rin." 

"Yeah, yeah." Rin leapt to his feet and bounded his way to the door. "We should crash too." 

Makoto heard the panicked thoughts that Rin's remark sparked in Sousuke: "Sleep? _Shit, I haven't even started my history homework, come to think of it."_

Apparently the boy was a huge procrastinator. Makoto suppressed a chuckle at that. 

"Good night, guys," he called after them as they let themselves out. "And thanks, Rin!"

As the door closed behind them, Haru fixed him with a tentative half-smile. "My teammates weren't too... crazy for you?"

Makoto laughed. "I have Ren and Ran, remember?" 

Haru let out a snort, the closest thing to laughter that you could typically get out of him. "You had fun?"

"Yeah," Makoto said. "Yeah, I did."


End file.
